Amanda Tapping gets a charge out of test driving the Tesla Roadster; that's good, considering the Vancouver actor ordered the Tesla S sedan online and is 104th in line

By Andrew McCredie, Vancouver Sun

Originally published: July 5, 2011

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With a zero to 100 km/h time of under four seconds, I fully expected Amanda Tapping to blow the roof off the Tesla 2.5 Roadster during our Big Wheels drive during a wet afternoon last week.

What I didn’t expect was that the soft bikini top would literally be blown off as the Vancouver-based award-winning actress pushed the electric sports car to near its formidable limits on our drive atop Burnaby Mountain.

But it was through by no fault of the designers of the revolutionary two-seater. Rather, it was due to journalisterror, as minutes earlier a flash downpour had us scrambling to secure the soft-top which we had cleverly stored in the trunk, despite the threatening skies.

The dribbles of water should have been a clue that it was not on properly, but so enthralled were Tapping and yours truly with the Tesla Roadster, we ignored our otherwise good sense. Fortunately, no damage was done – save a little moisture on the carbon fibre and leather interior – and with the top securely fastened in place this time, we silently continued our high speed and silent test drive.

"I love cars," admits Tapping, who for 10 years starred in the shot-in-Vancouver Stargate SG-1 TV series and for the last four has starred and served as executive producer of the equally popular sci-fi series Sanctuary. "When I was growing up my dad always had company cars, and my favourite one was a LeMans he had for a couple of years. I remember thinking to myself, ‘this is a really cool car.’"

That was back in Toronto, where the English-born aspiring actress was raised. After graduating from the University of Windsor School of Dramatic Art, she embarked on a career that has included guest starring roles on numerous hit TV shows, including the X-Files, Millennium, The Newsroom and The Outer Limits, and theatrical roles in high-profile productions of, among others, Steel Magnolias, Children of a Lesser God and The Taming of the Shrew.

But on this particular lunch break from her gruelling Sanctuary shooting schedule -"I start at 5:45 in the morning and work to 7:45 at night" -the role she’s playing is Tesla driver, and is putting in an Oscar-worthy performance.

"I think in another life I might have been a sports car racer," she says with a laugh as she confidently pilots the Tesla through corners of standing water. "The power really surprises me. And the comfort too. It’s a real luxury car inside. And look at this display panel. It’s beautiful."

Yes, there’s much to like about this Tesla Roadster 2.5, which makes the news just a couple of days earlier that the Northern California-based automaker will discontinue the model at the end of the summer even harder to take.

Despite sales to the end of April of approximately 1,650 Roadsters, the company announced it will shift all its production focus onto the Tesla S, an all-electric sedan with seating up to seven that is expected to start at $58,000 US when it goes on sale next year.

Tapping is on the waiting list for one, and if her impressions of the Roadster are any indication, she’ll be very happy with the S when she finally gets one.

The S will be offered with three battery pack options: 260-, 370-, or 480-kilometre range, and will be equipped with a 17-inch touch screen infotainment cluster with wireless Internet access allowing connected navigation, Internet radio and points of interest.

Just as with the Roadster, the S will have a blistering off-the-line acceleration, and expected to go from zero to 100 km/h in less than six seconds.

The company has high expectations for the new sedan, thanks in part of over 4,000 reservations for the Model S in North America and Europe. Annual output is hoped to be in the 20,000-unit range.

"I was getting to feel super guilty about the gas I am using," explains Tapping, her Audi S4 an exhilarating but not-so-efficient ride. Then she discovered Tesla.

"Great name, very clever. If they’d called it the Edison I wouldn’t have been so happy," she cracks. "I love the fact that this is the first new-car company that is speaking to a niche market but going mainstream with it.

"They’re saying electric cars don’t have to be boring and ugly. They’re breaking out of that mould."

The same could be said of Tapping’s career the last few years as she tried her hand at directing and is executive producer of Sanctuary.

"I realized that as a woman in this industry I had to broaden my skill set, so I directed an episode of Stargate [Resurrection]," she explains as she reluctantly steers the Tesla back down the mountain and back to the Burnaby studio.

"I love the collaboration and matching the vision of how you want the show to look."

And just as she likes the fact Tesla was set up to break the mould of not just what electric cars look like, but how the company builds cars -which is very unlike the traditional assembly line system -she loves the fact she works for a completely Canadian produced and financed series. The show’s financier is the Beedie Group, a B.C.-based company best known for its design, construction and management of industrial buildings in Metro Vancouver. It formed Beedie Entertainment to support Sanctuary.

Oh, and she loves the name Tesla -"There’s a character played by Jonathon Young on Sanctuary called Tesla, though he’s a vampire."

But most of all, she loves driving the Tesla. For that matter, driving anything.

"I like the freedom of driving," she says. "And now, with my lifestyle such as it is, with the hours I work and being a mom [her daughter Olivia is six], the only alone time I have is when I’m driving my car. It’s my private time. So I get in the Audi and either listen to music or NPR, which I guess isn’t that conducive to fast driving [laughs]."

One gets the feeling that once Amanda Tapping takes delivery of her Tesla, even NPR won’t slow her down.

And it’s a good thing the S has a hardtop roof.

BIG WHEELS

First car: "I didn’t actually get my driver’s licence when I turned 16 because I went to a downtown [Toronto] high school. I was public transit and bike girl. Then my brothers and I spent $100 on a 1971 Mercury Comet. We called it the ‘Vomet’ because it always just died. It was Robin’s Egg Blue and actually a very pretty car."

Other cars: "The first car I owned by myself was a Toyota Corolla, and I had that car for a long time. Then I got a Jeep YJ, and that’s the vehicle I ended up bringing out to Vancouver. I traded it in for a Nissan 240ZX. It was the last year they made that model; rear-wheel drive, I loved it. Really sexy little car. Then I got a big dog, and the little car didn’t work so I ended up getting a Blazer. Didn’t really like that one. Then I got a Volvo S60, then another S60, then we had a baby so I got a [Volvo] XC90. Can you tell I get bored of cars quickly?"

Current Car: Audi S4: "It’s my favourite car. But as much as a love it -it’s a fantastic car, I feel safe in it, it handles beautifully, it’s fast -it’s a gas pig. A V-8 engine in a pretty small car. And I feel really guilty about that. I’ve had a lot of offers from people to buy it when I sell it. The colour is called Dolphin Gray."

Next car: "About four months ago I ordered a Tesla S online. I’d heard the buzz about it so I checked out the website, read all I could about it, and was like, ‘I have to have this car.’ I bought it without ever driving one or even seeing one in person. I think I’m 104th in line for it, and I’m not sure what that means in terms of when I’m going to get it."